Dash to the Mountains – Minnesota to the Black Hills

Leaving Up A Creek Campground, we drove for 4 of the next 5 days to start the 2nd half of our trip in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  When we envisioned this 7 month trip (Jesup to Tucson), we planned the 2nd half – July to November (Rafter J Bar in the Black Hills to Voyager RV Park in Tucson) first, and then planned the April to July portion later, after we had a contract on our house in Jesup.  This 2nd half of our trip is all in the Rocky Mountains and is full of two week stays, so that we can really get a good appreciation for the geographical, historical, geologic and cultural aspects of each location. 

On Sunday, June 27th, we left the lakes and forests of northern Minnesota and entered the farmland of western Minnesota.  You could always tell when the next town was by looking for the grain elevator.  We saw lots and lots of corn.  At Prairie View campground, a part of the Prairie’s Edge Casino complex (www.prairiesedgecasino.com),  you could start to get a perspective on the plains.  The campground is in Granite Falls, Minnesota on the Minnesota River, and the vistas were immense. Rolling hills, sporadic trees and CORN. 

We continued on through the corn on Monday, June 28th, leaving Minnesota and crossing into South Dakota at Brookings.  Our destination was Dakota Sunsets RV Park (dakotasunsets.com) in Salem, SD, about 30 miles west off Sioux Falls, on Interstate 90.  We realized that the majority of our trip through Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota was off the interstate system, last having driven on it with Interstate 96 in Grand Rapids, MI.  Dakota Sunsets was in a grove of trees, totally surrounded by CORN and other crops.  We were excited to stay two nights with a day of rest after driving for two straight days.

We spent Tuesday, June 29th, resting, doing laundry, cleaning the grill and our outdoor carpet.   

On Wednesday, June 30th, we really started to transition from cropland to the prairie.  Crossing the Missouri River at Chamberlain, we stopped at the Lewis & Clark museum at the highway rest area.  The “Voyage of Discovery” of 1804-1806 stopped just below that spot on the west side of the river during September of 1804 on their way west.  They spent the winter of 1804-05 in present day North Dakota with the Mandan Indians, spent 1805 crossing the Rocky Mountains through present day Montana all the way to the Pacific Ocean at Fort Clatsop, Oregon, and 1806 returning to St. Louis.  The majority of the trip was on the Missouri river in the east and the Columbia river in the west.  At the rest are we were awed by the “Dignity” statue.

“Her name is Dignity. The Native American woman stands some 50-feet (15 m) tall. Sculpted of stainless steel, ‘Dignity represents the courage, perseverance and wisdom of the Lakota and Dakota culture in South Dakota,’ according to artist Dale Lamphere who used three models of Lakota Native Americans to create the face.” The Statue is a gift to the people of South Dakota from Norm and Eunabel McKie of Rapid City. The statue was completed in 2016 and opened to the public at the Chamberlain (SD) Rest Area between exits 263 and 265 on Interstate 90.

After grass fed cheeseburgers at the Murdo Drive In in Murdo, SD, we arrived at the Belvidere East KOA (koa.com/campgrounds/belvidere) for the night.  Huge prairie vistas and gorgeous sunset.  We visited with a couple from Phoenix who are working at this KOA for the summer. We enjoyed the conversation about workamping, living in your rig and working as camp hosts.

We started to get very excited on Thursday, July 1st, as we approached Wall Drug Store (www.walldrug.com) in Wall, SD.  Dating from 1931, the Hustead family was struggling to keep a viable business in this small town 50 miles out on the prairie east of the Black Hills, until they decided to post signs on the highway (the predecessor of interstate 90) for many miles in each direction advertising FREE ICE WATER and 5 CENT COFFEE.  The schtick worked and soon travelers stopped in droves on their journey.  Today, the Wall Drug store occupies an entire city block, carries traditional pharmacy goods, plus western goods, souvenirs, still 5 cent coffee and lots of photos and paintings of the old west.  Of course we bought T-shirts and books about the west.  Wall is also the gateway to the Badlands National Park.

We arrived in Rapid City and started the 30 mile trip up into the mountains on US 16.  There were some really steep grades, but the Canyon Star slowly but steadily ascended.

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